U.S. frees 9 Guantanamo prisoners, sends them to Saudi Arabia

April 16, 2016

In this photo taken Feb. 2, 2016, the entrance to Camp America is seen at U.S. Guantanamo Naval Base, Cuba. Authorities say the U.S. has released nine prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and sent them to Saudi Arabia for resettlement. All nine are Yemeni but have family ties to Saudi Arabia. None of the men had been charged and all but one had been cleared for release from the U.S. base in Cuba since at least 2010. One was approved for release by a review board last year. (AP Photo/Ben Fox)

MIAMI — The U.S. has released nine more prisoners from its base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and sent them to Saudi Arabia for resettlement, officials said Saturday.

The move announced in a Pentagon statement is part of an effort by President Barack Obama's administration to release detainees considered low-risk while seeking to transfer the remainder to the U.S.

"The United States is grateful to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the Pentagon said.

With this latest release, there are now 80 prisoners at Guantanamo, including 26 cleared men expected to be sent home or to another country by the end of the summer.

Many in Congress, however, are staunchly opposed to closing Guantanamo or moving any prisoners to the U.S. and some have called for new restrictions on future releases and transfers.

All of the men whose release was announced Saturday are Yemeni but could not be sent back to their homeland because U.S. officials fear that the instability there would enable them to resume the militant activities that landed them at Guantanamo in the first place. They are expected to take part in a Saudi rehabilitation program for an undisclosed length of time.

The nine Yemenis include Tariq Ba Odah, a frequent hunger striker whose weight dropped to a dangerously low 74 pounds (34 kilograms) at one point as the military fed him with liquid nutrients to prevent him from starving to death. His lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights had urged the U.S. to free him earlier due to his health.

Eight of the prisoners, including Ba Odah, had been cleared for released from Guantanamo since at least January 2009, when an Obama administration task force evaluated all of the prisoners held at that time. The ninth, Mashur Abdullah Muqbil Ahmed Al-Sabri, was cleared by a review board last year.

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